Perched House

Fitzroy North, Australia

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Perched House

Fitzroy North, Australia

Firm

Wexhaus Architecture Melbourne

Type

Residential › Private House

STATUS

Built

YEAR

2016

SIZE

1000 sqft - 3000 sqft

Perched - like a sparrow. Perched is a light extension at the rear of an inner city semi-detached Edwardian house that curves above your head.

The staircase:
We wanted a single stair run without a landing. The client wanted a high ceiling to match the existing house. The compromise was to break up the extension into two - the kitchen has 2.4m ceiling, which solved the stair dilemma because we concealed the landing. Upstairs, we have a bedroom directly off the landing, then continue up a few more steps to reach the bathroom and rear perched bedroom. Sweeping the ceiling up with a curve just made sense after that.

The brief and the site are common in inner-city Melbourne properties. Usually, because of the need to pack in as much space and storage as possible, the space becomes dark and feels cramped. We decided to stick to the essentials and by neatening up the layout to reduce dead space while playing with natural light to increase the drama and the effect - the space is in fact quite small, but no one would think so.

Our client wanted to renovate the existing rear extension which was structurally sound and add a bedroom - she had no idea we would reconfigure the entire house.
The kitchen was a very important component of the design as her partner is a chef - this had to take pride of place since entertaining and social gatherings around the island bench is a way of life for them.

PROJECT TEAM
Cloverleigh Home Improvements - Builer
All Australian Building Permits - Building Surveyor
Kennedy Bell Infrastructure - Structural Engineer
The Urban Leaf - Energy Raters
Brian Watson Surveying - Land Surveyor
In Depth Geotech - Geotechnical engineer

Welsey Spencer - Architect
Mathilde Polmard - Architectural Designer